E movement Panther

[Pateo63]

What do you e bikers think of the E movement Panther – Fat Tyre Electric Folding Bike , spefically the 350w £1,299.99 version?

[richtea99]

Never tried one, but three things I noted:
- they offer demos, at their Woking address (bottom of this page), which is good if you're serious about buying
- 350W isn't legal for road riding in the UK, as a plain eBike (250W is the max). The chances of being caught are low, but something to bear in mind.
- a folding bike is all very well, but it weighs 28Kgs (that's a chunky 62lb in old money). That may be quite a challenge to get into a car boot, up the stairs, etc.

[stodd]

It looks as if it could be a decent bike for the price if that's the style appropriate to what you want.

As mentioned above, not legal for on road, or off road in public places (eg bridleways, towpaths). But you are unlikely to be caught.

It mentions regenerative breaking. That is often associated with direct drive motors rather than geared motors. They don't give much detail on the motor, but direct drive tend to be very heavy on the battery and not that good at hill climbing.

You'll get much less than the 'up to' mileage (quoted for light rider, good road, minimal assist, warm, and probably tyres pumped above typical pressure); typically expect around 1/3 quoted 'up to' figure.
See https://www.bosch-ebike.com/en/service/range-assistant/ and play with the variables to get an idea of variation between perfect and typical.
It's for Bosch motors, but pretty much carries over with appropriate interpretation; in particular the variations between different conditions remain pretty much the same.

[Pateo63]

Never tried one, but three things I noted:
- they offer demos, at their Woking address (bottom of this page), which is good if you're serious about buying
- 350W isn't legal for road riding in the UK, as a plain eBike (250W is the max). The chances of being caught are low, but something to bear in mind.
- a folding bike is all very well, but it weighs 28Kgs (that's a chunky 62lb in old money). That may be quite a challenge to get into a car boot, up the stairs, etc.

Thanks for your feedback, no worries about putting into car, as I don't drive, but did make me think about what if battery failed when on bike ride, wonder if it would be dead weight trying to manually pedal with 62lb bike?

[richtea99]

The dead weight is only a factor when accelerating - so setting off from stationary with a dead battery will be more challenging then a normal bike. Once you're up to speed, the weight makes little difference on the flat.
Going uphill with no battery, you may have to walk unless it's quite gentle, or you're fit, because you'll be carrying 4.4 stone extra weight with no assistance. But then again, you'd hope not to be in that situation very often.

There are lighter electric bikes, but possibly not at that price in that design. You might want to consder these guys if you're not wedded to fat tyres:
https://wooshbikes.co.uk/?rambletta

Less money (£919), less weight (20Kg), and well known for their excellent support on eBike cycling forums.

[Pateo63]

The dead weight is only a factor when accelerating - so setting off from stationary with a dead battery will be more challenging then a normal bike. Once you're up to speed, the weight makes little difference on the flat.
Going uphill with no battery, you may have to walk unless it's quite gentle, or you're fit, because you'll be carrying 4.4 stone extra weight with no assistance. But then again, you'd hope not to be in that situation very often.

There are lighter electric bikes, but possibly not at that price in that design. You might want to consder these guys if you're not wedded to fat tyres:
https://wooshbikes.co.uk/?rambletta

Less money (£919), less weight (20Kg), and well known for their excellent support on eBike cycling forums.

Thanks. I'm sure I read on the wooshbikes website that they mentioned that you need to be able to understand the use of a multimeter, I'm guessing that's for testing electronics. So for that reason I give them a miss!

[stodd]

I don't think Woosh would have suggested the need for a multimeter for their built up bikes; more for their kits. I do have a multimeter and know how to use it, but I've not needed it yet for my Woosh kit, nor do I expect to.

I won't be happy if something goes wrong with that kit and I have to resort to the multimeter to find out why, and arrange the fix. But I'd be a lot less happy if something goes wrong with our Bosch driven Motus. There will be almost no chance of my finding out why, and hardly any better chance of any Bosch dealers finding out why; they'll just run the diagnostics and say 'It's broken, it's got to go back to Bosch'. And the fix will almost certainly be horrendously expensive, and slow.

[hemo]

Every ebiker with a generic China system should have and know how to use mustimeter, even to carry out basic readings should the bike not work. A simple battery voltage reading or a check of the charger often can show up where an issue may lay.

For those with out of warranty mid drive Canbus bikes, if the motor is suspect then Performanceline Bearings in Surrey have back engineered the big four players in the market to be able to carry out motor repairs at a cheaper cost price.